1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a collecting plate, a fuel cell, and a method for manufacturing the same.
2. Description of Related Art
Conventional solid polymer electrolyte fuel cells have, for example, individual cells made up of a membrane-electrode assembly (MEA) consisting of an electrolyte membrane composed of an ion exchange membrane, an electrode (anode, fuel electrode) composed of a diffusion layer and a catalyst layer disposed on one side of this membrane, and an electrode composed of a diffusion layer and a catalyst layer disposed on the other side of the electrode membrane, and a separator that forms a channel for supplying fuel gas and oxidizing gas to the anode and cathode, respectively. A plurality of these single cells are stacked, a terminal plate, an insulating plate, and an end plate are disposed in that order on both ends (in the cell stacking direction) of this stack, and these are fastened together and fixed with tension plates (see Patent Documents 1 to 6, for example).
The terminal plates disposed at the stack ends and the separators that are part of the single cells have output terminals, for outputting the voltage generated by the cells, provided to collecting sections (the main part).
Patent Document 1: Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application H11-339828
Patent Document 2: Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application 2003-86216
Patent Document 3: Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application 2003-123828
Patent Document 4: Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application 2002-352821
Patent Document 5: Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application 2002-362165
Patent Document 6: Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application 2002-124285